


Nightime Visit

by Ms_Julius



Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Spectacular Spider-Man (Cartoon)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 15:35:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18318182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ms_Julius/pseuds/Ms_Julius
Summary: There is an intruder in Octavius' lab.A familiar one, at that...





	Nightime Visit

**Author's Note:**

> For @animathemutant, who wished for some Adrian/Otto.  
> Hope you like it!

It wasn’t unusual to hear sounds coming from the lower floors of the lab once the day had officially ended. In all honesty, it was to be expected. There were numerous of machines which were left on during the night, running experiments while the small set of staff had gone home, leaving the only permanent resident of the building to watch over them. And over the years, Octavius had gotten used to this role. It was soothing really, to spend his time all by himself in the empty building, listening to the familiar roars of the engines.

What was not usual was the heavy screech of a metal coming from the back door. The sound of it was loud enough to be heard in the main office, startling Octavius’s focus from the book in front of him.  

He had locked the doors. Just a hour ago, he had walked downstairs, turned on the alarms and pushed the locks in place. Nobody had entered since.

Nobody should be able to.

Putting as little weight in his steps as he possibly could, Octavius walked out to the staircase. He peered down over the railing, trying to will his eyes to see in the dim lighting who was moving through the lower floor. Perhaps it was one of the janitors? There were few of them who had been trusted with the master key, but even then Octavius had instructed them to only show up during daytime. Highly unlikely, but Octavius was not yet willing to admit he might have a intrusion or a break-in in his hands. They had systems in place for these situations! Most of them he had designed himself. It would be a hard blow to his confidence should they be breached.

Carefully, keeping his pace steady, he descended to the main floor. The glowing tanks filled with liquids of various sorts offered a little source of light, and it took a lot of concentration to maintain his balance while he sneaked towards the far end of the room. From behind a large supply cabinet, a ray of a flashlight shined over the concrete floor. A quiet muttering was barely audible over the machinery, but once Octavius stopped to stand just behind the storage, he could make out few words here and there. A technical terms, mostly. Names of a engine parts, wires.

At least his thief knew what they were after, if the determined rumbling of a spare gear locker was anything to go by.

His arms ready, Octavius stepped forward into the proper light.

“Can I help you?” The emotionless tone did its job, forcing the perpetrator to turn around in the small space. The tone was quickly abandoned however, when Octavius caught the sight of who was rummaging through his laboratory.

“ _Adrian_?”

A dry voice let out a silent hum. “Doctor Octavius. How unfortunate, I was certain you’d have left for the day.” The Vulture turned completely, his sharp features underlined by the lack of light. “Should’ve known you would be one to stay up late.”

In the shadowy room it was difficult to tell for sure, but Octavius managed to take a look at the workbench stuffed in the back corner over the taller man’s shoulder. There were parts laying around on it, and a device likes of which he had seen once before...

“Since _when_ have you taken it upon yourself to commit night burglaries, Toomes? I thought your plans these days were more... high-flying, so to speak.” He couldn’t help the sneering edge in his words. “And apparently robbing your allies is now an acceptable strategy as well, hmm?”

The engineer merely huffed, waving his hand and turning back towards the bench. “It is hardly stealing if I helped you to gain these components in the first place.”

“You said you had no need for them!”

“I changed my mind.”

Octavius sighed, lowering himself back to the ground and allowed his arms to come rest snugly against his spine. “Couldn’t this have waited until morning?” He had really wanted to catch on much needed sleep tonight, but given how many loose wires there were on the table, he had an inkling feeling that this might take the whole night. Of course there was a possibility to try and kick the man out, but even then Toomes would most likely just break in again, this time waiting until he was certainly out of the lab.

“It could. I don’t see why it’d need to.” Long, elegant fingers picked out a bundle of cables and started to sort them out by length. He made a quick work with them, and soon the device - Octavius had guessed right, it was the engine of Toomes’ suit - was being opened up all the way. The insides seemed oddly darkened, and when the lid was removed, a tell-tale smell of a burnt metal filled the corner they both stood in.

“What on earth have you been doing?” Octavius asked, coughing. “That reek will surely set off the sprinkler system!”

“As if you haven’t mistakenly blown up experiments in here. Please, doctor. You insult my intellect.” His hands steady, Toomes lifted one of the scorched parts off from the engine’s housing and set it down on the bench. It had turned black from inside out, the old cords breaking in pieces as he pulled them up as well.

Octavius peeked further into the device. It was clear that the electric components destroyed by the fire were beyond rescuing, and for the stronger metal parts, it would take some time to straighten the surfaces and rejoin the teared up fractures. In essence, it would be a pain to fix but a jiffy to rebuild.

“You should just break it down altogether, if you want to have it done by morning.”

His suggestion went unnoticed, not that he had expected otherwise. Sighing heavily, Octavius pulled out a chair from under the desk and sat down his back against the cabinet wall.

“There are numerous labs and warehouses were you could have found these pieces, Adrian.”

The rustling ceased for a moment. “You overestimate the businesses of this city.”

“Perhaps. But that doesn’t change the fact that you stole these from someone else in the first place. And had you wanted, you could have returned there, instead of breaking into my house. A house which, if I do say so myself, has a much better security than your common storage building downtown.” Octavius leaned back a bit more, his posture relaxing. “You wanted company.”

There was a sneering huff. “Don’t flatter yourself, doctor. I needed the parts. Your place was the closest. Nothing more to it.”

A cloud of sparks emerged from the cables as the man tested them out.

“If that’s what allows you to sleep at night, fine.” Reaching over the tabletop, he grabbed a screwdriver and pulled the metal case closer to the edge. “Give me that! We are going to be here all night if you’re insisting on doing this all by yourself.”

Startled and wide-eyed, Toomes followed as his suit-engine was tugged away from him, leaving him standing with the wires in his hands and a frown on his face.

“You are growing arrogant, Octavius. I am not sure how I feel about that.”

A loose screw rolled onto the desk with a clink.

“I don’t suppose I ever asked you, Adrian.”

The silence settled between the men as the night crawled onward.

And come morning, the device was resting neatly on the bench. Two coffee mugs steaming beside it.


End file.
